State laws ease access to deceased's estate

Wednesday

Oct 3, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Current economic conditions affect the administration of decedents' estates. For those individuals dying with limited assets, with or without a Last Will and Testament, Pennsylvania's statues provide an easier way to gain access to certain types of assets than to raise an estate at the Office of Register of Wills.

Current economic conditions affect the administration of decedents' estates. For those individuals dying with limited assets, with or without a Last Will and Testament, Pennsylvania's statues provide an easier way to gain access to certain types of assets than to raise an estate at the Office of Register of Wills.

Title 20, Section 3101 of the Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code is titled "Disposition Independent of Letters." The "Letters" are issued by the Register of Wills either Letters Testamentary to the Executor under a Last Will and Testament, or Letters of Administration to an Administrator for an individual who dies without a Last Will and Testament. Section 3101 provides an alternative for settlement of a small estate. It all depends upon the type of asset.

An employer may pay wages, salary or employee benefits due the deceased person in an amount not to exceed $5,000 to the spouse, any child, a father or mother, or sister or brother of a deceased resident of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

A bank, savings and loan association, or credit union may pay to the same family members as listed above, the amount on deposit when the total "standing to the credit of the decedent in that institution" does not exceed $3,500.

For example, a person dies with two bank accounts at one bank and the combined value of the accounts is $2,500. The bank may pay that amount to one of the identified family members and close the accounts without the need for Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration. However, if the combined value of multiple accounts exceeds $3,500, Letters would be necessary to access the funds.

The family member receiving the proceeds of the accounts must show a paid funeral bill to the bank or an affidavit from a funeral director that satisfactory arrangements for funeral services have been made.

If the decedent was receiving medical assistance benefits for a nursing home stay, the facility may pay the balance of the decedent's "patient care account" to a licensed funeral director up to $3,500. The patient care account is usually funded with the $45 per month a Medicaid recipient may retain from his or her income for use for such things as haircuts and personal items.

After payment of burial expenses, the facility may pay the balance of the patient care account to the same hierarchy of family members set forth above as long as the total payments made from the patient care account (including burial expense) do not exceed $4,000.

Where life insurance is payable to an estate and the value is less than $11,000, the company can pay that sum to the spouse, any child, father, mother, brother or sister of the decedent as long as 60 days has passed since the date of death and the company has not received a written claim for payment from any person having Letters, either Testamentary or Administration.

If there are assets that do not fit the criteria outlined in the statute, than Letters may be needed. More on this topic next month.

Lori Cerato is a Stroudsburg attorney concentrating her practice in the area of elder law. If you would like to see a particular question covered in this column, email poconorecord.sage@gmail.com. Lori Cerato cannot guarantee a reply to every individual's query.